Gas leak - Is changing hose first step?

themountaintiger

themountaintiger

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Sep 27, 2009
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Lancashire
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8,653
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Swift Kon-Tiki 649C Class
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Since 24th March 2010
Hi all

Got a gas leak. No smell whatsoever in hab area, but its being used too quickly based on previous use. I've read on here that it might be an issue with the hose from bottle to regulator. Is this something I could change myself or is a gas engineer required to do it?

If the replacement hose doesn't solve the issue, could it be the regulator? Is that something I can replace?

Thanks for any responses...

T
 
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1st step will be to check all connections are tight is this a gasit alugas system or a normal calor
 
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It's quite simple to change the hose. After all it's almost what's involved when you change over cylinders. Just a matter of swapping one for the other. The metal reinforced replacement hoses have a longer life span than the plain rubber ones. Of course it could be a problem elsewhere in the system but that is the easiest place to start.

Wyn
 
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Mix up some water and soap, apply it to all valves, joints and hoses with a sponge.
Then look for the bubbles!

There is no point in guessing where a leak might be. Look first, there might not even be a leak!

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You haven't said what system you are using Calor or refillable. Got to be the first step.
 
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Doesn't really sound like a leak to me, if it's going that fast you notice a change in use age there has got to be a smell somewhere, are you sure it's not just having the heating on more with this cold we've had , soon eats into your gas.
 
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If your fridge on? We went through a bottle in record time last summer as the fridge was using more gas than usual due to us putting items on the floor of the cupboard immediately above the fridge and it went into overdrive.
 
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chaser said:
Doesn't really sound like a leak to me, if it's going that fast you notice a change in use age there has got to be a smell somewhere, are you sure it's not just having the heating on more with this cold we've had , soon eats into your gas.
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Not more usage based on previous history. I seem to be getting through a 6kg calor bottle in 3 weekends away.. (off ehu). I've not been doing anything differently like leaving gas fire on overnight so to speak..

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Mattyjwr said:
If your fridge on? We went through a bottle in record time last summer as the fridge was using more gas than usual due to us putting items on the floor of the cupboard immediately above the fridge and it went into overdrive.
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Yes fridge is on. Not sure about this one. fridge going into overdrive. I'm thinking do the easiest thing first.. i.e. check the hose to calor bottle and if thats ok, time to get fridge/gas serviced I think.
 
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Gas is heavier than air ... therefore if a leak is on a pipe outside the locker or Hab area then it may drift off in the wind and no apparent smell would be had........ but gas smell is very distinctive and apparent and you would sense it, even a small leak if you had the van in a garage/shed should be sensed. The bubble test is good and should show it even if the leak is small. I have in the past pressurised the system and left overnight to see if the pressure drops but you require equipment to perform the test.
Hope you get it sorted soon..... assuming you have an issue.
 
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Are you sure the bottle was actually full to start with, no garauntee, plus don't know what you use it for but we can empty a 6 kg bottle in a week , just the two of us , cooking water heating fridge, and heating if it's cold.
 
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themountaintiger said:
Yes fridge is on. Not sure about this one. fridge going into overdrive. I'm thinking do the easiest thing first.. i.e. check the hose to calor bottle and if thats ok, time to get fridge/gas serviced I think.
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Check the outside wall where the fridge vent comes out of the mh - ours was warm / hot due to the excess amount of heat being generated.
 
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I agree it doesn't sound like a leak to me either, normally you can smell very small leaks.
If the fridge has a nice clean blue flame & it is cooling OK it probably OK.
We seem to use more gas every year and I can't work out why, last September got through 26Lt in 2½ weeks, didn't think we used the heating much. Was the first time we had used the new van for longer periods in our case I blame the Dometic 8 series fridge sure it uses a lot more gas than the 7 series, lot bigger flame & sounds like a furnace.

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chaser said:
Are you sure the bottle was actually full to start with, no guarantee, plus don't know what you use it for but we can empty a 6 kg bottle in a week , just the two of us , cooking water heating fridge, and heating if it's cold.
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I believe I've had this issue with last 4 bottles from different retailers. At first id thought id got one that wasn't full as it was a calor gas lite replacement due to recall. Sort of forgot about it till 2nd then 3rd bottle used quickly. Interestingly my 3 weekends away per bottle isn't far off your usage. is it all in my head? Need to get washing up liquid out..
 
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chaser said:
Are you sure the bottle was actually full to start with, no garauntee, plus don't know what you use it for but we can empty a 6 kg bottle in a week , just the two of us , cooking water heating fridge, and heating if it's cold.
Click to expand...

We've just returned from a tour of Mull and used approx 6kg of gas for the fridge, cooking and a little water and air heating over 10 days.
 
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I bought this gas tester for about twenty odd quid a few years ago..worth its weight in gold
 
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It doesn't sound too excessive to me, in 2 weekends away, we burned through a 6kg! Wife does like to be toasty warm though, so heating left on low through the night, and cooking a roast in the oven on a Sunday.

To answer the original question though, changing the pipe is dead easy, the rubber stuff is not that expensive, and can be picked up by the metre in most BBQ sales places. As others have mentioned, you may want to go braided steel to improve lifespan?

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hmm did the bubble test.. nothing.. no bubbles.. checked on motorhome wall on other side of fridge.. very cold. Think I'm better getting fridge/gas service and tell engineer i'm unclear whether using too much gas... perhaps its just my incorrect perception of my gas usage.
 
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themountaintiger said:
perhaps its just my incorrect perception of my gas usage.
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Probably, as I said we seem to use more every year. At this time of year easy to use 20-30Lt (10-15kg) in a week. So cheap compared with energy costs on the house as long as there isn't a leak not worth worrying about.
 
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If in doubt, it always pays to have your gas system fully checked for that piece of mind.

I've had my motirhome 6 months and basically been getting it ready for trips out this year.

Although the dealer said they'd carried out their own habitation check, i paid for a full gas test for my own piece of mind - so glad I did, as the pig tail was 5 years out of date and there was a gas leak off the pipework in the locker.

All sorted now, with a full bill of health, a certificate.
 
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The reg hose will/should have a date on it.
cant remember if its a "replace by" or "manufactured" date but needs replacing every 5 years.
Most likely a "manufactured" date
 
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Apparently it's the manufacture date you go off not when it is fitted... bit silly in my opinion as I thought the pipe only started to deteriorate once fitted?

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themountaintiger said:
I believe I've had this issue with last 4 bottles from different retailers. At first id thought id got one that wasn't full as it was a calor gas lite replacement due to recall. Sort of forgot about it till 2nd then 3rd bottle used quickly. Interestingly my 3 weekends away per bottle isn't far off your usage. is it all in my head? Need to get washing up liquid out..
Click to expand...

You need one of those ebay jobs.
You can squeeze 7 litres into a 6 litre bottle !:whistle:

:reel:
 
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Never mind bubble tests and all that rubbish. The best way is "Light a match run it along sides of pipes hoses etc. When it goes "BANG" you have found the leak problem solved "SIMPLES" fun!!! fun!!! fun!!!
 
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If it helps, we used a whole 6kg bottle in 4 days recently...
This was cooking, water and air heating and the fridge... and I thought I only had the heating on low (18°) compared to others I've heard of (20°+)...
 
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